• Energy Research

The contribution of animal waste storage on GHG emissions and climate change is a serious issue for agriculture. The carbon emissions that are generated from barns represent a relevant source of emissions that negatively affect the environmental performance measures of livestock production. In this experiment, CO2 and CH4 emissions from different animal wastes, namely, digestate, slurry, and manure, were evaluated both in their original form and with a biochar addition. The emissions were monitored using the static camber methodology and a portable gas analyzer for a 21-day period. The addition of biochar (at a ratio of 2:1 between the substrates and biochar) significantly reduced the emissions of both gases compared to the untreated substrates. Slurry exhibited higher emissions due to its elevated gas emission tendency. The biochar addition reduced CO2 and CH4 emissions by 26% and 21%, respectively, from the slurry. The main effect of the biochar addition was on the digestate, where the emissions decreased by 45% for CO2 and 78% for CH4. Despite a lower tendency to emit carbon-based gases of manure, biochar addition still caused relevant decreases in CO2 (40%) and CH4 (81%) emissions. Biochar reduced the environmental impacts of all treatments, with a GWP reduction of 55% for the digestate, 22% for the slurry, and 44% for the manure.

AbstractThis paper describes the relationships between large-scale modes of climate variability and its related weather types with the fluctuations in the yield of maize crops in Veneto, Italy. The teleconnections analysed in this work are the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the summer North Atlantic Oscillation (SNAO); the West African monsoon (WAM) and the Intertropical Front (ITF). Despite that these indices are not rigorously linked to one another, they result in being considerably related to atmospheric circulation regimes and associated weather types. They have an impact on temperature and precipitation patterns in Italy and on yields of maize crops in Veneto, a region located in northeast Italy. Yields are strongly affected by large-scale temperate and tropical variability directly through three main circulation regimes. Troughing weather regimes that produced below average temperatures depress yields over the entire Veneto region, as does the zonal regime that affects rainfall. Results confirm the relevance of large-scale modes and associated weather regimes and types on maize crop yields fluctuations in Veneto.

Several substrates were selected in this study and their biogas production potential was assessed by analyzing their physic-chemical characteristics. The parameters used for this assessment were the high yield per hectare and their low cost and diffused availability.

Abstract Digestate is considered a sustainable opportunity to reduce environmental impact from fertilization, due to high content of nitrogen easily available for plants and for the low impact of its production. We tested liquid fraction of digestate from anaerobic digestion of pig slurries and urea, to assess the emissions of nitrous oxide and ammonia from soil on silage maize (Zea mays L.). Nitrogen rate was the same for both treatments (150 kg/ha) spread replacing common methods. Emissions measurements were performed immediately after fertilization using a static chamber method with a portable gas analyser. Measurements were performed daily during the first week, and twice per week until no emissions from the soil were observed. Cumulative nitrogen emissions show that digestate can be an efficient method to reduce nitrogen losses (2.87 kg N/ha/25 days and 3.76 kg N/ha/25 days for digestate and urea respectively). However, the two fertilizers emitted different kind of gases: compared to urea, digestate emitted the 23% of nitrous oxide more, on the other hand urea emitted 66% of ammonia more than digestate. Crop yield obtained under the two fertilization methods did not significantly differ in terms of dry matter (DM) (13.63 t DM/ha and 13.24 t DM/ha for digestate and urea, respectively) (significance factor α > 0.5).

AbstractThe paper presents results from a study examining the relationship between large-scale modes of climate variability with the fluctuations in the yield of barley, durum wheat, olives and sunflower crops in Tuscany, Italy. In particular, the blocking circulation over the growing season, with associated hot and dry conditions, decreased yield for olive crops, barley and durum wheat. The teleconnections analysed in this study are the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Summer North Atlantic Oscillation (SNAO); the West African Monsoon (WAM) and the Intertropical Front (ITF); and although NAO, SNAO, ITF and WAM are not strictly related to each other, the values of these indices are strongly related to the atmospheric circulation regimes and related weather types. Thus, they have an impact on precipitation and temperature patterns in Italy and on yields of important crops in Tuscany. Results show that the large-scale temperate and tropical variability directly influences the crop yield through three main circulation regimes. These patterns illustrate the importance of the large-scale modes, which, together with the associated weather types, have an impact directly on Tuscan crop yields; both barley and olive yields decline significantly when the ITF is further north with warmer and drier conditions in Italy.